Greek, together with Chinese, is thought to be one of the oldest written languages still in existence and ancient Greek is still largely legible by modern Greeks. It is traceable, in written form, back to the Linear B script in 1450 BC but has been written in the Greek alphabet since ca. 900 BC.
Whilst it is considered a language isolate (unrelated to any other languages) it has provided the world with the basis of the Latin and Cyrillic scripts, is the root of many words in English, has initiated much of the vocabulary used in science, and more. It is an official language in Greece and Cyprus and is spoken by significant numbers in Albania, Italy and some parts of the Balkans.
Almost every word in English that begins with “ph” comes from Greek and even the English word “alphabet” is taken from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet , “alpha” and “beta”.
Language Length
Normally 10% longer than English.
Notable Grammar and Punctuation Differences
Question marks: Notably the Greek question mark is “;” – a semi colon to English speakers.
Quotation marks: Usually chevron style <<>>
Numbers: The comma is used where English would use the decimal point and vice versa, e.g. 5.5 (English) = 5,5 (Greek), but 5,000 (English) is 5.000 (Greek).
For more information contact us here: Greek Translation Services.
